Opposition protests at Nixon’s meeting at CPS

Posted by brennan on April 23, 2014

It could mean a lot more money in your pocket, but a huge hit to vital state services. Governor Nixon was in Columbia night to tell educators why he plans on vetoing Senate Bill 509, otherwise known as the income tax cut bill. He says language in the bill would actually do away with income tax entirely for anyone making over $9,000 per year.

“Senate Bill 509 would force the outright elimination of the most basic services Missourians count on from their government. Teachers would be laid off and schools would close their doors. Prisons would close. Mental health facilities would be shuttered,” says Nixon.

Nixon said even if the language could be fixed the tax cut would only save someone earning $44,000 per year $32 each year, and that would only come after full implementation in 2022.

Protesters from the group Americans for Prosperity came to the meeting. Rachel Payton, Deputy State Director of Americans for Prosperity, was there, and she says the Governor’s stance that the bill would do-away with almost all income tax is just wrong.

“I know what we are frustrated with is he comes out and says, ‘ this tax bill is going to hurt education.’ The only one that’s hurt education has been Governor Nixon himself. He has been the one that has withheld money from education, he’s the one that’s threatened to hurt education,” says Payton.

She says any tax cut for Missourians is a step forward and her group hopes to see bigger cuts in years to come.

Nixon argues that wording in the bill would almost completely eliminate income tax. He says even if the wording was fixed the bill would still cost the state over $600 million in annual revenue which he says would hurt education and mental health services.